Faith is a holistic quality

By John Carter

Published 5:47 pm, Friday, April 19, 2013

Faith is one of those words we do well to consider carefully in our times. A succinct definition is hard to come by. We use the word in different ways with such phrases as faith communities, faith traditions, leaps of faith, blind faith.

English does not have the verb "to faith." We do have the verb "to believe," but we're coming to see that the original meaning of this verb, "to cherish," has passed away and both the verb and the noun, "belief" have become indicators of a cognitive activity only. "Sue believes x is y." This suggests Sue thinks so, but she really doesn't know.

Faith, we're coming to see in our global religious reflections, is holistic. It engages the total personality, is more than affirming a particular assertion. The title of this series, Voices of Faith, is indicative of a rewarding perspective on faith as a human quality. Faith is best initially understood when in the singular. There are no faiths. There are religious traditions through which persons of faith have adorned human history. On occasion, we have been faithless, and we have failed to express faith, with devastating consequences.

Belief systems are expression of faith, like stained-glass windows, magnificent choral music, a well-delivered sermon, gentle meditation, calming chanting, that contribute to the development of faith in one's life and from generation to generation.

Men and women have given multifaceted testimony to the abiding human quality of faith. They have led the kind of life that demonstrates the noblest within us, a blend of humility and humaneness, calm and courage, alignment of thought, word and deed. This indicates balance within the human personality. It sets aside self-centeredness and provides a fulcrum for being supportive of others.

When a mosque, a synagogue, a temple, a pansala or a church appears in our neighborhood, these expressions of faith can be a means by which we delve into the faith of others and into our own understanding of faith as we have come to discern its presence as Christians or Jews or Buddhists or Muslims or Hindus or Christians.

When we begin to understand faith in this way, and global studies are leading us to this conclusion, faiths do not collide. Only people with inadequate faith or with this quality gone awry choose to collide, to bicker, to belittle each other rather than to celebrate the presence of the fundamental quality of being genuinely human.